There is a story yet to be told about the twenty-six men of
the Canadian Expeditionary Force who are buried here in Southern Cemetery.
Grave of Thomas John Loveland, 1918, Southern Cemetery |
They will all have been patients in the nearby military
hospital which until the Great War began had been the hospital for the local
Workhouse.
And each will have died while recovering from their wounds
or illnesses.
In time I want to follow up each of their lives in as much
detail as I can.
For now I know that this is the grave of Thomas John
Loveland of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps who died on November 6 1918, just days
before the Armistice and end of the war.
He was just 21 years old and had been born here in the
United Kingdom in London and he may even have been a British Home Child because his
Attestation papers show his trade as a farmer and his next of kin as Eliza who
was still living in the UK.
Cover of Canada in Khaki, 1917 |
Eliza was his sister who was just six years older than
Thomas.
Their father who had been a gas
labourer had died in 1903 at the age of 35 leaving his wife Eleanor to bring up
five children on her own.
The eldest who was Eleanor was eleven years old and the
youngest was just two.
By 1911 they were living in a four roomed house at number 4
George Street at Walsoken in Cambridgeshire.
But only Eliza and her mother are in the property which they share with
a William Fearis and his daughter who was 18 months old.
Both Mr Fearis and Mrs Loveland give their status as widowed
and she describes herself as “Domestic housekeeper.”
In time I am minded to explore the story of Mr Fearis but
for now I am content just to record that on the night of census Mrs Loveland’s
youngest son was visiting.
He was eleven years old, is described as a “scholar” and
this offers up the possibility that he too was in care. I doubt that he could have been living with
either of his elder siblings because they were only sixteen and fourteen.
A page from Canadian Khaki |
So I think we can be confident that on the death of Edward
Loveland in 1903 all the children bar Eliza went into care.
In 1915 Eliza is still at the address when Thomas enlists in
Canada.
And there the trial pretty much comes to an end. I don’t yet know when their mother died or
what happened to Eliza although her elder brother was killed on the Western
Front in 1917.
All of which sort of brings the strands together. Our own British Home Child like Thomas
enlisted in the August of 1915 but he survived, we live just minutes way from
Southern Cemetery where Private Loveland lies.
In little over three weeks
there will be a special ceremony in Southern Cemetery to mark not just the
centenary of the Battle of the Somme but also for Canada Day.
And the picture of all twenty-six graves of the men of the
CEF were taken by David Harrop who has commemorated the centenary of the Somme
with a special exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern and which will
feature memorabilia connected to the Canadian Expeditionary Force, including
the book Canada in Khaki.
And just as I posted the story Liz who is the archivist of the Together Trust suggested that "he was a Barnardo’s boy by the looks of it."*
The Together Trust was the old Manchester and Salford Boys'and Girls' Refuges and from 1870 were active in offering care to disadvantaged young people in the twin cities of Manchester and Salford.
Their archive is a wonderful collection of material covering the work carried out by the charity.
And as Canada awoke and got into its stride Catherine West kindly did the research and confirms that
Thomas was a Barnardo's Home Child. He is listed on the Library and Archives Canada site at either www.bac-lac.gc.ca or www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
Once there go to online research and search the British Home Child database."
So a pretty good result all round and another bit of international research.
The story of Manchester's involvement in the Great War is featured in the new book Manchester Remembering 1914-18, published today by the History Press.
And just as I posted the story Liz who is the archivist of the Together Trust suggested that "he was a Barnardo’s boy by the looks of it."*
Southern Cemetery |
Their archive is a wonderful collection of material covering the work carried out by the charity.
And as Canada awoke and got into its stride Catherine West kindly did the research and confirms that
Thomas was a Barnardo's Home Child. He is listed on the Library and Archives Canada site at either www.bac-lac.gc.ca or www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
Once there go to online research and search the British Home Child database."
So a pretty good result all round and another bit of international research.
The story of Manchester's involvement in the Great War is featured in the new book Manchester Remembering 1914-18, published today by the History Press.
Pictures; from the collection of David Harrop and of Southern Cemetery from Andrew Simpson
*Getting down and dusty/
**Manchester Remembering 1914-18 by Andrew Simpson
Order now from the History Press,
*Getting down and dusty/
**Manchester Remembering 1914-18 by Andrew Simpson
Order now from the History Press,
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if my first comment made it. I loved this post about Thomas Loveland. I researched him a bit and found out the his mom did marry Mr Fearis sometime between 1916-1918. Poor lad was gassed and near the end of the war got a bullet wound in the thigh and a compound fracture to the femur. To control secondary hemorrhaging the doctor decided to amputate his leg but sadly he did not survive the operation. He was actually only 19yrs old. So sad. Read the entire file here: http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B5758-S022. He came to Canada at age 8 in 1907.